Interpersonal communication in children

People with Autism Spectrum Disorders, particularly Asperger's Syndrome, have
a set of symptoms, such as difficulty processing emotive facial expressions and making
less eye contact, that affect the individual's social interactions. The prototype developed
is geared to help children with Asperger's Syndrome recognize facial expressions,
improve eye contact, and to reinforce connections between facial and verbal components
of expressions. This application utilizes a computer generated human head, an avatar, to
interact with the children while displaying various emotions and using games to increase
the children's eye contact. The unique properties of the avatar utilized allow for a
comprehensive coverage of the children's attention spectrum to maximize their learning
potential. Knowing that about 17% of Autism Spectrum Disorders belong to the
Asperger's Syndrome subclass, the positive impact of this application on their life would
be of great importance for their families and the community.

Children with autism often have deficits in social reciprocity, the ability to
participate in long chains of back and forth interactions with a social partner. Research
has shown that deficits in social communication skills, such as social reciprocity, can
have lifelong negative impacts on the lives of individuals with autism. Routines-based
intervention for young children with autism is supported by research and educational law.
However, there are limited studies showing the effects of routines-based intervention for
children with autism. There are no studies that address social reciprocity using routinesbased
intervention for children with autism. This preliminary investigation explored if
parent training on six strategies to promote social reciprocity within three everyday
routines would increase the parents' use of the strategies and also increase the social
reciprocity ofthe children. Parent use of the strategies and the social reciprocity of the children were maintained
after the intervention was withdrawn.

The development of child language within the framework of the family has received increased interest in the past decade. One recent premise is that the use of specific types of language by adults in parent-child dyads affects development. These types of adult language, labeled as directives , are verbal behaviors that communicate to the child that he or she should do, say, or attend to something, and are considered to be related to episodes of joint attention. Posited by this model is that episodes of joint attention lead to greater language development. One type of directive, follow-in, is hypothesized to lead to increased joint attention; while two others, redirectives and introductions , are seen to save either a negative or no role in joint attention, thus making them non-significant or negative in the development of language. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of these specifically defined directives by primary caregivers in adult-toddler dyads and to determine the role each played in episodes of joint attention. Additionally, child engagement outside joint attention episodes was examined with regard to adult directive use. Twenty primary caregiver-toddler dyads participated in the study, with two groups of ten dyads each (at-risk and no risk conditions). Dyads were videotaped at home for one 15-minute session, of which the last 10 minutes were coded for joint attention and child engagement using partial-interval recording. Additionally, each specific directive was tallied and the total number calculated. Results indicated one statistically significant result in the relationship between use of a specific directive (introduction) and number of intervals of child engagement. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that the hypothesized model was significantly accurate with regard to the relationship between child engagement and follow-in and introductory directives; however, prediction of intervals of joint attention by type of directive was not significant (p = .487). Additionally, no significance was found in the correlation between directives and joint attention, contradicting the postulated relationship in the model studied. The results of this research suggest that, for use in measuring joint attention, the proposed narrow definitions of directives are not adequate.